June 6, 2022

Title: WEST TO EAST

Constructors: Kelly Nguyen Dickson & Hoang-Kim Vu

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

WARSAN SHIRE (17A: Poet who wrote "no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark")

WILL YOU MARRY ME (27A: Question that might be asked on one knee)

WORKOUT ROUTINE (43A: Gym program)

WHAT DO I CARE (58A: "Makes no difference to me")

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer begins with a W (WEST) and ends with an E (EAST).

And now a word from our constructors:

Kelly: This is my first crossword puzzle and constructing it was so much fun! I am so grateful for the opportunity and to have had Kim’s patient and brilliant guidance throughout this collaboration. I really appreciate his and the entire Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory’s commitment to diversity. Solving puzzles with entries and clues that I can relate to is always fun, so I hope that through this puzzle we’ve been able to provide that same feeling to others. A couple of my favorites are 14A and 62A.

Kim: First, I want to echo the shoutout about the resources and people of the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory for anyone and everyone interested in constructing. The seed idea for this theme (17A) was part of an entirely different theme idea that didn't quite work out; paired up with Kelly through the Directory, we came up with a theme set that I really love and a grid that is just crammed full of personal favorites that also happen to highlight wonderful parts of our shared heritage. We hope you enjoy it!

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• ATOMS (14A: "Never trust ___, they make up everything!" (science joke)) Editor, there's a science joke in my crossword. And I am delighted! I've always liked this joke, and it was a joy to see it as a clue.
• WARSAN SHIRE (17A: Poet who wrote "no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark") WARSAN SHIRE wrote the poem, "Conversations About Home (at the Deportation Centre)" after visiting the abandoned Somali Embassy in Rome. At the time, some young refugees had turned the Embassy into their home, and the night before she visited, a young Somali had jumped to his death off the roof. The poem contains the thought-provoking line, "No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark." I first learned about WARSAN SHIRE from the January 8, 2021 puzzle. 
• AMAS (34A: Awards show hosted by Cardi B in 2021, for short) The AMAS are the American Music Awards. Cardi B not only hosted the AMAS in 2021, she also won an AMA for Favorite Hip Hop Song (for "Up"). This article recaps the outfits Cardi B wore while hosting the AMAS.
• AO DAI (62A: Kelly Marie Tran wore one at the 2022 Oscars) The ÁO DÁI is a long split garment worn over trousers. It is a Vietnamese national garment. At the 2022 Oscars, Kelly Marie Tran wore a green ÁO DÁI designed by Thai Nguyen. Kelly Marie Tran's parents immigrated to the United States as refugees following the Vietnam War.
• ALS (24D: Ice Bucket Challenge cause) Do you remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? In the summer of 2014, the challenge went viral on social media in an attempt to promote awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS - also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) and to encourage donations for research. 
• MORSE (32D: -- --- .-. ... .) What a fun clue! MORSE code is a method of encoding text using dots and dashes (or dits and dahs). Even if you aren't fluid in MORSE code, the dots and dashes are enough to tip you off to the answer. If you do know MORSE code, you might have recognized that the clue uses MORSE code to spell out MORSE.

Geography review:

• CHAD (37A: Country west of Sudan) CHAD is a landlocked country in central Africa. Within the last year, we have seen CHAD clued as [Nation south of Libya] (we've seen this clue twice), and [Country east of Niger]. In addition to being west of Sudan, south of Libya, and east of Niger, CHAD is also north of the Central African Republic, and northeast of Nigeria and Cameroon.
• UTAH (2D: State home to the Mighty 5) UTAH is home to five National Parks - the Mighty 5. UTAH's Mighty 5 are Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion. I have visited all five of UTAH's National Parks, and each of them is spectacular in its own way. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.

Not only do the theme answers begin with W and end with E, the answers themselves move from the WEST (left) side of the puzzle to the EAST (right) side. I also appreciated the elegance that the W at the beginning and the E at the end of each answer were the only incidences of those letters in the theme answers. I enjoyed the  conversational phrases in the puzzle: I'M SO GLAD, I'M AFRAID SO, WHAT DO I CARE, and, of course, WILL YOU MARRY ME. Congratulations to Kelly Nguyen Dickson on her crossword puzzle debut! Thank you Kelly and Kim for this puzzle that was a delightful way to begin my Monday.